Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Hi,

Kenji Alt's tasting of Pinot Noir seems like a failed experiment. The $60 Chambolle Musigny was wonderful and should be. (The four best wines I have ever tasted all came from a 2 mile stretch in the Cote du Nuit). The only other value was the cheapest wine in the tasting.

I know that Pinot Noir is difficult to grow and vinify but there must be other choices. I wonder if Parker has some mid-price recommendations that might have been included.

Wino, I await your thoughts.

Tim

Wino,

I've been looking at some wine ratings, assuming that Kenji tried to include highly rated wines in this tasting. The only wine that I found was the La Paulee (WA 90 points) which had observations that it needed 2 -3 years of bottle age.

Better choices would have included:

2009 La Crema WA 90 points @ $20
2008
Calera Central Coast WA 90 ponts @ $24

2009 La Capiaux Gary's Vineyard, California 94 points @ $40

2008 Le Cadeau Vineyard Diversite, Oregon WA 93 @ $45

Tim

"" The $60 Chambolle Musigny was wonderful and should be. ""

Tim I love your saying. The real thrill of wine to me is finding the lowest common denom of low price and good taste. Then of course drinking it.

My favorite go to PN when I am in California is 2008 Cambria Pinot Noir Julias Vineyard $17 - 25 in most large grocery stores. They make thousands of cases!

Below are the Wine Spectator's selections using my criteria of at least 90 points, $30 or less, and recent vintages (to hope to find it). Generally, I only drink wines of 90 points or more when using the Wine Spectator. I have different criteria for different critics.

Sorry for the late response but we just returned from business on the road to a very wet basement and a still leaking roof

ALTA MARIA Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley
2009 91 $28

CHASSEUR Pinot Noir Sonoma County
2009 92 $30

LORING Pinot Noir Russian River Valley
2009 93 $29


LORING Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands
2009 93 $29

SIDURI Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands
2009 92 $29

SIDURI Pinot Noir Russian River Valley
2009 91 $29

SIDURI Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
2009 91 $29

MUELLER Pinot Noir Russian River Valley
2008 90 $29

ZEPALTAS Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
2008 91 $29

ELKE Pinot Noir Anderson Valley Mary Elke
2007 91 $26

KENWOOD Pinot Noir Russian River Valley Reserve
2007 90 $30

MUELLER Pinot Noir Russian River Valley
2007 92 $25

PARAISO Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands
2007 92 $25

ROESSLER Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast La Brisa
2007 92 $30

ROESSLER Pinot Noir Sonoma County Red Label
2007 92 $28

SIDURI Pinot Noir Sonoma County
2007 90 $20

SIDURI Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills
2007 90 $29

JOSEPH SWAN Pinot Noir Russian River Valley Cuvée de Trois
2007 93 $28

Wino, Tim,

When I think Pinot Noir, I think Oregon:

Patricia Green Cellars (or any Pinot she does for a few other wineries)
Shea Wine Cellars
Erath Winery

In California, Standish produces an excellent Pinot Noir which is worth the sticker price. Also, the Pinot Noirs produced by Domaine Carneros (the sparkling winery) are quite good.

Hmmm. All of those are a bit pricey though. Not sure if I know of any cheap-but-good PNs. Grenache, Tempranillo, Cabernet Franc, and blends, yes. But not Pinot Noir.

Actually, inspired by this thread, I went out and bought a bottle of inexpensive Pinot Noir, a Castle Rock 2008 Napa Valley ($10). This was rated as a "best buy" by Wine Spectator.

It reminds me what I don't like about cheap Pinot Noir. It's all fruit. Without heavy 16-month+ secondary fermentation, pinot noir tastes too much like grape juice.

This'd make a nice base for Sangria, though ...